How Can Interpreting Enhance Global UX & Brand Engagement?

welocalize June 8, 2020

The wider world of interpreting….

When most people think of interpreting, they tend to think of rows of people wearing headphones, sat in booths, translating high level discussions for the United Nations. That’s an accurate image but there are other, sometimes surprising, areas where interpreting plays a key role for brands in accelerating global business.

Although many of us sit behind keyboards and devices to communicate, especially in the current social distancing climate, a lot of critical communication and brand experience is still established and achieved through the spoken word. Many cultures and customers value the ability to be able to express themselves verbally, and more importantly, be listened to. It’s a vital part of establishing a long-term relationship, whether business or personal.

For organizations striving for global growth with diverse, international audiences, many are looking to leverage spoken word interaction as a way to improve the customer and brand experience. In the US alone, there are 350 languages spoken and 67.3 million US citizens speak a language other than English at home (41 million are native Spanish speakers).

To communicate with multilingual audiences, interpreting becomes a key part of global user experience (UX).

Supporting UX for a Global App Relaunch

Many technology and online brands gather customer feedback as part of the overall product development process and this often involves taking users on the customer journey, not just to test the actual technology, but to confirm whether the journey is a relevant one to a target market, often located in different countries. This can involve taking live feedback verbally, requiring spoken translation whilst the structured customer experience session takes place:

Global Conferences & Summits: Preparing for a Post-COVID World

Global customer conferences and partner summits also form an integral part of customer engagement and brand experience. As new ways of working are established, many organizations are looking to retain and enhance the virtual meeting culture that has been established during COVID-19:

Increased Demand for OPI

Although the demand for on-site interpreting has decreased during COVID-19, many brands are looking to remote interpreting, especially over-the-phone-interpreting (OPI) to forge meaningful conversations with their customers. One crucial part of UX is customer support and many organizations rely on call centers to deliver this service to customers all over the world. It’s an important touchpoint in the overall customer journey – as CEO and Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, states, ‘It’s our job everyday to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.’

When you call a customer support helpline, you need to be able to explain your query or technical problem and have a positive experience with the customer representative. Real-time telephone interaction is powerful and can have a significant impact on brand loyalty. Having someone speak your language at the end of the phone is fundamental. Good OPI can deliver a truly positive brand experience. It can be quite complex and challenging as the interpreters must have in-depth product and brand training. They are an extension of the internal team and act as brand representatives and ambassadors.

 

Contact Welocalize to find out more about OPI in action and how interpreting can increase UX and brand engagement for your organization.